Scorpius seemed dubious. “And where is that?”
“The past,” Odin-Vann said firmly, and looked up at Scorpius without raising his head.
Ralph frowned. “The past? What do you mean? Are you talking about… Time Turners?”
Rose shook her head. “Time Turners can’t change history,” she said tiredly, glancing from Ralph to Odin-Vann. “At least, not major history. That’s their fatal flaw. The past has a sort of inertia. The bigger the event, and the longer ago it happened, the more it will find a way to keep happening, no matter what you do in the past to try to change it. Besides, a Time Turner is a personal device. Go back in time and walk a mile in any direction, you’ll stumble right out of its influence and back into the present. Right, Professor?”
“Time Turners are for reliving short moments in the recent past, by one or two people, in a small vicinity,” Odin-Vann agreed unhappily.
“Changes can be made in that past, but only if their effects haven’t yet had major repercussions in the present. Rose is right. Once history has been made, trying to change it in the past is like trying to steer this ship with a teaspoon. It would have to be something that almost happened right anyway, but didn’t for some reason. And it would take monumental, immeasurable power.”
Scorpius said, “So if history can’t be changed, how can going back to the past help us?”
Odin-Vann shook his head, growing animated, “I don’t mean traveling back in time,” he said, lowering his voice with urgency. “I mean going someplace that Petra has already been before, someplace with deep, elemental meaning to her, someplace that defines her. We need an object, a talisman that will connect Petra with Morgan on a quantum level. That way, when we open the rift between dimensions, it will connect with the proper place and time, taking Petra back to Morgan’s original world!”
“But,” James said, “I thought there was no way to open a rift directly into another dimension? You have to go through the World Between the Worlds, and there’s no way to find one specific dimension from inside there. It would be like finding a single star in a billion galaxies.”
Odin-Vann was shaking his head again, his eyes bright with fervor. “No. It is possible to go straight into another dimension. But no one has ever tried it because it’s only a one-way trip. And the cost is…terrible. But it is only possible if we can find the right talisman, the right key to Morgan’s original world!”
“So, what’s the key?” Rose asked.
Odin-Vann looked at James. And suddenly James knew the answer.
“Her father’s brooch,” he said in an awed voice, and shuddered.
Zane nodded, even as his mouth dropped open in revelation.
“It’s exactly like the brooch Petra lost on the back of the Gwyndemere when she fell overboard! You saved her, but it sank forever! The one Merlin captured was Morgan’s! She never went on the ship with you, because in her world Izzy died and she went mad with loss! The brooch is from that other dimension!”
Odin-Vann said, “It’s our only hope. It connects Petra to Morgan in the most fundamental way—through a love they both shared.
And it’s from Morgan’s original world, making it the perfect key. If we can get it, then it is just possible that Petra can accomplish her mission after all.”
James looked at the professor. “But, why do we need to go anywhere for it? Merlin has the brooch, doesn’t he?”
Odin-Vann’s face hardened. “Merlin is a wilier and more cunning character than any man who ever lived. It was he who somehow divined that Petra had traveled to the World Between the Worlds in search of the thread, and who confronted her there. It was he, I am willing to wager, who sabotaged the Loom to prevent us from utilizing the thread and completing our mission. He is not a man who would keep the brooch here at the school, where Petra might come and win it back from him. He has hidden it.” Here, his hard eyes glimmered with a mad light. “And I know where.”
“And how, pray tell,” Scorpius asked, arching one eyebrow, “could you possibly know that?”
Odin-Vann smiled grimly. “Merlin is powerful,” he admitted.
“But he relies far too much on that power. I, on the other hand, am not powerful. I spent my life being mocked and ridiculed for my weakness.
Which means that I came to rely most heavily on my intellect.” He tapped his bloody temple grimly, meaningfully. “The headmaster’s reliance on raw power is his greatest weakness, and with your help, we shall exploit it.”
“Well,” Ralph said with a resolute sigh, climbing back to his feet.
“I’m out.”
“What?!” James asked, surprised. “Are you serious? What do you mean, you’re out?”
“I mean I’m going back to my common room and finishing my Ancient Runes homework and going to bed,” Ralph replied, glancing around the gathering. “And the rest of you should best do the same.
This bloke is right mental. He’s opposing Merlin. You heard him say that, yeah? Merlinus Ambrosius!”
“He’s not opposing him,” James rasped, pitching his voice low.
“He’s just… Merlin doesn’t know what he’s doing this time. He doesn’t understand Petra’s mission. That she’s the world’s only hope! He would confront her instead of help her, and he would probably end up dead!”
“You think so?” Ralph said, raising his eyebrows. “Merlin’s no fool, no matter what this nutter says. We should have gone to Merlin months ago with this whole mess. He could fix it. He would have worked with Petra. And she would have been a damn sight better off partnering with the headmaster than with this… this…” He gestured at Odin-Vann where he still sat, leaning against the wheelhouse.
“Ralph,” Zane said, climbing to his feet as well. “Are you going to go tell the old man? I mean, you have every right to your opinion and all. But it’s a little late in the game to be switching coaches now, isn’t it?
If you tell on us,” he shrugged helplessly, “then it’s all over.”
Ralph heaved a huge sigh as he glared at Zane, and then James, and then Rose.
“Don’t look at me,” Scorpius said, raising a hand, palm out.
“I’m just here because it’s better than watching Warton and Finnegan snog in the common room.”
Ralph finally shook his head weakly, hopelessly. “What good would it do me to tell now? It’s too late, like you say. But I won’t be a part of this anymore. It’s not right. I should have done something about it months ago. I should have stood up to him when there was still a chance to make it right.” He turned to Odin-Vann again, his face going stony with angry disgust. Then, without looking back, he turned and stumped down the gangplank.
From his seat on the deck, Odin-Vann raised his wand, aimed it at the far off door, and tapped it. A spit of pink light flashed and, distantly, the door latches unlocked.